IDE RAID - FastTrak/66 (ATA/IDE - PCI RAID CONTROLLER)
Adrian
>
> I've seen some posts that FastTrak is unsupported / unuseable in
> linux. Anyone since written a driver for it? Are their true hardware
> ide raid controllers available? If so, how much and where?
It is at the moment, but Promise is suppose to be developing a driver.
Last time I checked, they said they had an alpha driver, but they didn't
have it posted yet. Check out the Promise support/download drivers
section. And yes, the FastTrack and the ATA66 are the same card (unless
they recently changed it) with different flash BIOSes and an "identity"
resistor.
Adrian
--
- I just tried this on my old Packard Bell 486/66 w/4MB (Hey ...
- shut-up! I was young, ignorant, and didn't know anything about
- hardware or quality manufacturers.).
Barry Evans
Specifically the Promise FastTrak66 ATA66 PCI RAID controller? I'm
interested in running RAID 0 or RAID 0 + 1 but wanted to know if linux
would be able to access the harddrives. I'm not sure that the Fastrak
is true hardware raid as many ads for it say the word driver (scary?)
If you are familar with the RAID controllers do they truely make a box
that much faster? Seen claims that disk I/O is nearly double and a
windows nt pc can boot 7 seconds quicker with ide raid. Anyone tried
one of the mod-chip modified UltraATA cards? Is it really the same as
a FastTrak66?
Any and all suggestions/comments appreciated.
Thanks,
Barry
Barry Evans
Sean
Barry Evans <bpe...@unity.ncsu.edu> wrote in message
news:7g3jks83rc3eckmil...@4ax.com...
Rootman
drivers for the FasTrak comntroller. Quite frankly I don't think they
have the technical knowledge to make it work. I would love to have a
few server to use with Linux but HD capactiy is keeping it back - and
strictly software RAID just seems to funky yet. I know I could get
artisitic and mount several drive in a tree but i just know I would
have someone that would fill up a drive and others practically empty.
I posed this question before; If you were to use a hard disk on the
original MB's IDE controller - which according to the FasTrak manual
can still be made bootable - to handle the actual Linux partition and
boot, then formatted the FasTrak RAID HD's as FAT32 in DOS would Linux
be able to see it since it is visible to the BIOS? Instinct tells me
no, but I am not sure.
I know this would blow the Linux security and not be as functional as
an EXT2 file system but could be usable as raw storage to take
advantage of the speed, capactiy and redundancy that RAID offers.
Anyone have any ideas on this?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Michal Jaegermann
: I'm not sure that the Fastrak
: is true hardware raid as many ads for it say the word driver (scary?)
If I should believe Andre Hedrick and Alan Cox (I do) this is a plain
software with a driver in BIOS. It has no advantages over a Linux
kernel raid driver. It is also an example of a misleading advertising.
--mj
Rootman
it's efficiency in many OS's but it can also be used in straight DOS,
with out ANY drivers, i.e. the RAID partition is formed, formatted and
can be used without ANY drivers.
It's use depends how deep the OS gets into controlling the disk
controller. Linux MUST have drivers to use it nativly - but alas none
exist. Linux dosn't use the BIOS for disk controll so it must be able
to address it throuh the driver level - at least for EXT2 support - see
my comments elsewhere in this thread fo an idea about FAT32 support.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomas Eisenzopf
My system seems to be a lot faster (Windows 98) than with a standard UATA/66
controller, so I would recommend it.
But if you want to use Linux DO NOT BUY IT!
Promise promised the drivers since the CeBIT in February (so I bought it),
but they gave me only on pre-pre-beta version of the drivers (boot disk
image) which simply freeze my PC at booting, so it is unusable.
My feeling is that it will need some additional time until these drivers
will be available.
If you already own such a controller PLEASE EMAIL TO PROMISE!
Perhaps they react if additional customers ask them about Linux.
Best regards,
Thomas.
"Barry Evans" <bpe...@unity.ncsu.edu> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:34vikssi81dgduopk...@4ax.com...
> Has anyone used an IDE-PCI raid controller?
>
> Specifically the Promise FastTrak66 ATA66 PCI RAID controller? I'm
> interested in running RAID 0 or RAID 0 + 1 but wanted to know if linux
> would be able to access the harddrives. I'm not sure that the Fastrak
> is true hardware raid as many ads for it say the word driver (scary?)
>
synrat
been kept.
Rootman
0, which would allow you to stripe two or more drives and span
their capacity.
Raid 1 is cool but I want capacity, not only speed and
redundancy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello,
I work for a company named Perceptive Solutions. We manufacture
SCSI and EIDE RAID controllers. We do have drivers available for
Red
Hat. Please visit our web site www.psidisk.com. Or if you have
any questions please email sa...@psidisk.com.
Thanks,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am in no way associated with or endorse the following spam
from Keen.com
.
Got questions? Get answers over the phone at Keen.com.
Up to 100 minutes free!
http://www.keen.com
moonie
Why is everybody so affraid to use Software RAID 0? I do and the sustained
transfer rates went from 19.5mb/s for one ide drive and 21.5mb/s for the other
to 36mb/s for the RAID arrays.
--
moonie ;)
Registered Linux User #175104
moonie
>These look like good products but the IDE products do NOT do RAID
>0, which would allow you to stripe two or more drives and span
>their capacity.
>
>Raid 1 is cool but I want capacity, not only speed and
>redundancy.
>
I use software RAID 0 stripping for my /, /usr, and /home directories. It is
much faster. My first drive (hda) has a sustained transfer rate of 19.5mb/s my
second drive (hdc) has a sustained transfer rate of 23mb/s. My RAID arrays
have a sustained transfer rate of 38mb/s! I use the onboard ATA/66 controller
in my mobo. (fic va503a) The rate isn't double, however it is pretty close and
does make a big difference where disk access is concerned. Netscape starts up
in about 4 seconds!
Mark Hahn
> have a sustained transfer rate of 38mb/s! I use the onboard ATA/66 controller
RAID is a great thing. but current 15G/platter 7200 RPM disks can
actually hit 35 MB/s _for_a_single_disk_.
Gianluca Alberici
Hello all,
I been followin the pdc2026x prob for a long time and i would like somebody to
tell me a couple of things:
- I would like to know whether or not kernel 2.2.16 or > supports somehow
pdc2026x (i dont want to use 2.4 its 2 new)
- I would also like to know if somebody's already tried to update the 20267
BIOS of the
Promise controller in bundle with MSI6330 to obtain raid1 functionalities (in
pprinciple downloading
the Fastrak100 BIOS frompromise and trying to do the thing should be enough...)
Thanx in advance,
Gianluca